31 July 2024
A group of women farmers from north Wales have been inspired to put systems in place to reduce their livestock feed costs, including adopting rotational grazing principles.
An opportunity to join a Farming Connect Agrisgôp group led by Rhian Jones was the catalyst for change for the beef and lamb producers from across Denbighshire and Conwy.
Visits to farms who rotationally graze their cattle and sheep, grow high protein crops, and use nitrogen-fixing red clover to reduce reliance on synthetic fertilisers gave the nine farmers the confidence to implement some of these measures in their own businesses.
They not only developed their skills in grassland utilisation and crop selection but in business management and budgeting too.
One of the farmers who is putting that knowledge into action is Fiona Faire, who farms at Plas Bedw, Pentrecelyn, Ruthin.
She produces lambs from 230 Lleyn ewes and ewe lambs and a small flock of Balwens and runs a herd of 12 Simmental sucklers with calves at foot.
Fiona says “being part of the Agrisgôp group and seeing rotational grazing working successfully on the farms she visited had helped inform my knowledge on how this could work on my own farm”.
“It was an excellent Agrisgôp group,’’ she said.
“We now graze our sheep and cattle on a rotation basis as we have fairly small fields, resting the fields after grazing, and keeping an eye on grass levels, and ensuring that there is adequate water available for each field.’’
This approach, Fiona added, had worked “extremely well’’. “The stock are certainly thriving on this system,’’ she said.
The group was formed because the women had expressed an interest in exploring options that could reduce the cost of feeding their cattle and sheep.
They wanted to look at how growing and managing alternative crops and pastures could help them achieve that, as well as the benefits these could have for the environment and their carbon footprint, and also to learn more on how to select and breed livestock.
Among the farms they visited was Llys Dinmael, where farmer Dafydd Jones shared his experiences of growing winter crops and the grazing options he has in place.
“They also learned how, by using electric fencing, a farm can be set up for more efficient grazing and how that can lower concentrate feeding,’’ Rhian explained.
At Moelogan Fawr they were inspired by Llion and Sian Jones and their approach to growing herbal leys and winter fodder and rotational grazing and how that had resulted in feed cost savings.
The use of breeds matched to the environment had allowed the Jones’ to gain the best from their stock while performance monitoring beef and sheep had improved growth rates and stock performance.
There were many other visits too, from learning more about the properties of clover and herbal leys at IBERS, Aberystwyth, to attending a soil health workshop.
They saw the benefits regenerative farming techniques had brought to another farm, dramatically improving fertility and the farm’s resilience to drought.
The group also learned from each other. One farmer spoke of the positive experience of using a seaweed-based product as a soil conditioner on unimproved pasture and how she planned to now trial it on newly established herbal leys.
Soil conditioners can be used to improve soils without the risk of polluting watercourses.
“The group were impressed with the product and some members were keen to try the soil conditioner,’’ said Rhian.